Not Afraid Anymore
by KayLeeTheDreamer
Summary: It's hard to survive in the zombie apocalypse with the constant threat of death, but will meeting a group of survivors make the risk of getting attached out weigh the fear of letting someone in again. 10K/OC
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: _Camp Blue Sky_

The idea of surviving had become in the forefront of everyone mind after the zombie apocalypse began and then again after Black Summer. However, several was hard in a world overrun with zombies and a finite amount of supplies, if you didn't have anyone that you could trust with you or didn't have the skills to survive, you ended up dead and in the apocalypse trust was a hard thing to come by. The journey for survival was littered with the loss of loved ones and those who would harm anyone who came into contact with them, on top of the threat of zombies.

Running through the woods off the main roads ended up being the quickest route and in some cases the safest, as it reduced the number of travellers and occasionally the number of zombies one would encounter. Currently the blood covered girl ran through the woods, trying to put as much distance between her and her past as physically possible. A blood splattered hand was tightly grasped around a fireplace poker, occasionally using it to mark which trees she had already ran past. Making sure not to stop whilst keeping an eye on her surroundings in case any humans or zombies were nearby, until she came to the edge of a lake. Glancing around she saw that there was no one or nothing around her before kneeling down and seeing her reflection on the water's surface, her skin was splattered with blood in various stages of drying as was her clothes. Reaching down into the water she dunked her hands under the surface before scooping up the cold liquid and before rubbing it along her face and arms, then moving her now cool, and mostly clean, hand up to rest on her forehead in order to try and cool the heated skin.

Ignoring the stinging sensation as the water came in contact with the cuts that littered her skin, she continued to try and remove as much blood as possible from her body. Her attention was taken from the task at hand by hearing footsteps behind her, slowly reaching down and picking up the weapon by her feet she spun around and faced the two people who had managed to sneak up on her, a man and a woman.

"Easy there" the male of the pair said, as he held his hands up in a 'surrender' gesture. While his female companion remained pointing her gun at the girl. "We thought you were a Z." Thinking back to the reflection she saw minutes ago, the girl realised that it was an easy mistake to make given her appearance.

"Are you lost kid?" the female with the gun asks slightly lowering her gun, to which her response a simple shrug of the shoulders. "Are you heading anywhere then?" another shrug in response was all she received. "Can you talk?" this time instead of a shrug, the response was a small nod.

"Okay then, my name is Charlie Garnett and that there is Roberta Warren, do you have a name?" Garnett asked as he kept his gaze on the girl, noticing that her responses to Warren's questions were non-committal gestures, the response to his question had been for the girl to take a few small steps backwards, before she fell backwards. "Oh shit"

Rushing over to the girl, Warren knelt down next to her seeing that she was unconscious before placing a hand on the side of her head, feeling the heat radiating off of her body. "Charlie, she's burning up."

"We'll take her back to Camp, we can't leave her out here for the Z's to find." Garnett said as he picked the unconscious brunette out of the lakes edge, while Warren picked up her fallen satchel "If she doesn't beat this fever though, I don't think she'll last very long"

….

When she awoke up, the girl realised she was no longer in the woods, she was inside with a room on a bed, her poker off to the side. Looking around she saw the female with a gun from before talking to a bearded man in hushed tones.

"It's been three days Warren, she hasn't woken up and her fever has gotten worse. I don't know if the Little Lady is going to pull through at this rate." The man said.

"Little Lady? You named her now? You name something and you get attached to it." Warren, if her memory served correctly in its fever driven haze, spoke back. "There's got to be something you can do, she's just a kid"

"We needed to something to call her other than the girl, or her. If she wakes up, we can try and get her some aspirin but other than that there is nothing we can do. Well lookie here, Little Lady woke up. How you doing there?"

"Doc you're scaring her" Warren interjected as she sat down on the edge of the bed, leaning over and placing the back of her hand on the young girl's head, taking note of how she flinched at the contact and kept a wary gaze on Doc, "you still have a pretty nasty fever. You feeling alright?"

"I've been better" she softly spoke up

"Well you do speak Little Lady, that's good. I'm Doc and you've already met Warren" the bearded man spoke up, causing her to shuffle closer to the edge of the bed. "Uh, anyway some aspirin for the fever."

Staring at the tablets in the man's hand, the young brunette didn't move repeatedly shifted her gaze from the medication to Doc. Seeing the hesitation in the girl's brown eyes, Warren took the aspirin from Doc and handed it to the teenager which she tentatively took. "Thank you."

"Doc, why don't you go wait outside? I'll talk to Little Lady myself" Warren told the older man, realising that it was men that she was fearful of. "Now, we need to have a talk before we can figure out what happens next"

….

"I hear she woke up, everything alright in there?" Garnet asked Doc once he got word of the girl he brought to Camp Blue Sky waking up.

"She's up and still has a fever." Doc answered as he cast a look back at the room where Warren and Little Lady were. "Though there is something you should know, Little Lady's pretty skittish and only responded to Warren."

"Same thing happened in the woods, the only response we got was from when Warren asked her questions. Nearly ran from my questions. You've nicknamed her?"

"Until we know what her name actually is, Little Lady will have to do."

"I guess so, what's Warren doing?"

"Asking her a few questions, you know why she was running and what happened to her. Something must have happened to her to make her that jumpy."

"You mean other than the Z's?"

"Other than the Z's" Warren's voice cut in as she shut the door behind her, having finished her conversation inside. "So her name is Violet, though she doesn't seem to care that Doc renamed her Little Lady. She's eighteen and is on her own, the person she was travelling before died a few months ago. She is going to stay here Charlie; I'm not sending her out into the world alone."

"Is that all she mentioned?" Garnet prodded, sensing there were a few things that was being left out of the recap.

"She's been through enough Charlie, enough has happened to her that makes her scared to be touched and of men. She's resting now"

"You aren't going to say what she went through are you?" Doc asked as he cast a look back to where the little lady was asleep.

"I'm not making her relive it again" Warren bluntly stated. "She's offered to give us some of her supplies in return for shelter here."

"She has supplies? Anything useful?"

"Some oxy, bullets, no gun mind you, a blanket and rations. Not a lot mind you, if she didn't find anything within a week I doubt she'd make it ten more days."

"Let her keep everything, at the moment we can wait until she fully recovers before we talk more to her. Might need to see if we can scrounge up some clothes that don't have blood on them for her." Garnet said. "I just hope this doesn't come back to bite us."


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Z-Nation or any of its characters, I do however own Violet/Little Lady.**

Chapter Two: Puppies and Kittens ( _the day everything went up to hell, all over again)_

…..

It had been three weeks since Violet, or Little Lady as most people called her, had come to Camp Blue Sky and she was starting to adapt to living somewhere safe. She was still skittish around most of the people in camp, however it was oddly Doc she had a steady relationship with as he learnt early on that if he stayed in her line of sight, didn't make any sudden moves and asked permission before attempting come close to her, then she was just a cute kid who had a fun sense of humour when she wasn't trying to avoid human contact or when she was climbing things.

"So some of us are heading out to see what Sketchy has on hand" Doc told Violet as he lent against the truck whilst the brunette laid in the back. "You want to come with? Might be able to get you a gun for all that ammo you have"

"I'm good, I don't think that I'm up too seeing them just yet" Little Lady responded as she slowly sat up and focused on Doc, though she had shuffled a little way away from the man. "After last time"

"Point taken, though a whack with a poker probably did him some good. Anyway, I'll need to check up on you when we get back. Your body barely kicked the fever and if you overexert yourself you might not pull through a second time; will that be alright?"

"I guess so, I feel a lot better than before"

"I should hope so. You going to take a nap in the back of the truck again?"

"It's not a cage and it's in the open, I feel safer out here than cooped up somewhere inside. Is that weird?"

"Not at all, and no one is going to bother you after the incident with Garnet"

"He scared me, it was a reflex" Violet chuckled, her body shifting slightly closer to Doc who was also laughing. Looking at her, it was easy to see why so many people had underestimated Violet, but she had fast reflexes and that poker of hers was dangerous in her hands. "Go have fun trading with Sketchy."

"Always do, you want me to trade something for you?"

"I'm alright. Keep an eye out for Z's old man."

"Cheeky kid" Doc rolled his eyes as he walked towards Mack and Addy, casting a look back he saw the little lady lay back down on the bed of the truck before disappearing from sight. "Alright you too lets get moving."

….

"Rise and shine little lady" Warren called as she banged on the truck, causing the sleeping girl to bolt upright, her poker pointed towards the woman. "Hello to you too. We're taking the truck to the Tappan Zee Bridge. Unless you're going to come with us, you might want to get out"

"Hey little lady, I need to put something in the back, that alright?" Garnet said once the brunette relaxed enough to put down her weapon.

"Sure" Violet crawled over and grabbed one of the duffel bags that was handed to her before tossing into the corner, watching cautiously as Garnet done the same. "I'm going to stay here, there's not a lot I can do until Doc gets back."

"Can I check?"

"Just the forehead" once he had jumped out of the back of the truck, he placed the back of his hand on her forehead.

"You're still a little warm, but nowhere near as bad as before. You will need to see Doc as soon as we get back."

"Already have my doctor's appointment set up for when he's finished trading."

"As long as you keep it, you can come with us. You going to be alright travelling with them" Garnett gestured to the two men who climbed into the backseat.

"As long as they don't try and touch me I should be fine. Have to learn to interact with other people sooner or later."

"Alright then."

"Come on Charlie" Warren called, as the male walked around the truck and climbing into the passenger side. "Little Lady coming?"

"She curled up with the bags once I started to come around the truck."

"Let's get moving" Hammond said, before the truck took off and started to head towards their destination.

…..

The drive to the Tappan Zee ended up slowing down when Camp Blue Sky didn't respond to their scheduled check in. Warren watched as Garnett paced with each attempt to contact the camp ending in static, while Hammond stood off to the side with Murphy in the cab of the truck and Violet leaning against the cab in the back of the truck.

"If we don't hear from them soon, we're gonna have to go back" Garnett told Warren,

"I don't think I can let you do that" Hammond said, though a hint of a threat laced his words.

"If somethings wrong with my people I don't give a damn about your mission. Or you." Garnett snapped at the soldier.

"We are going back" Warren decided as she started to walk back to the truck.

"Look" Hammond spoke, as he pointed his gun towards Warren and Garnett. "I appreciate your loyalty to those folks. I do. But you don't know what I do about this man."

"How about you point that gun somewhere else?" Violet hissed as she appeared behind him, her poker dangerously close to his jugular. In this moment, both Warren and Garnett caught a glimpse of how the brunette had survived the apocalypse.

"Why should we believe a words you say?" Warren asked, as Hammond slowly lowered his weapon, his eyes casting down to the mental point near his throat and behind him where he saw the coldness tinted with fear in brown eyes, seeing that realised that this girl would kill him if she needed too.

"Get out of the car" Hammond called to Murphy, taking a cautious step when at Warren's nod Violet moved her weapon away from him. Once he was sure that she wouldn't stab him, he grabbed Murphy and yanked him out of the vehicle. "Show them. Sow them why your so damn important"

"Get your hands off me" Murphy exclaimed, trying to shove his escort off of him.

"Show them why so many good men died getting you this far. Show them!" with Hammond shouting at him, Murphy slowly lifted his jumper up to reveal the bite marks and chunks of missing skin.

"What happened?" Warren asked, being the first to find her voice at what they were seeing.

"Those are zombie bites, eight of them." Hammond explained

"Why is he still alive?"

"And not a zombie?" Garnett asked the question that was on all of their minds.

"He was given the only dose of an experimental vaccine right before he was bitten"

"Those undead bastards got two of my ribs"

"Shut up. At least your still alive. More than I can say for my men." Hammond snapped at Murphy, while Violet climbed back into the truck, before his attention went to the two former national guards. "You're looking at the only human known to have survived being bitten by a zombie. His blood carries the antibodies for the ZN1 virus. If we can get him to the lab in California they can use his blood to make more of the vaccine"

"Mayday. Mayday. Calling Camp Blue Sky. This is Doc. With Thompson and Carver. What is your situation? Over." The crackling of the radio rang through the group before anyone could add another word in.

"Hey Doc. What's going on? What's going on?" Garnett spoke through the walkie talkie, while Violet leant over the edge of the truck when she heard Doc's voice.

"Garnett? Thank god your alive. We thought everyone was dead." Doc's voice rang out, causing the brunette's grip on the edge to tighten to the point her knuckles were white.

"I'm not at Camp Blue Sky. What's happening?" Garnett shared a look with Warren, as the only response was garbled static "Wait. Say. Again."

"Blue Sky has been overrun. The whole place is on fire"

"Survivors?"

"Get in the truck" Violet told Murphy and Hammond, who didn't argue with the teenager and got back inside.

"Well there was a ton of gunfire a while ago, but nothing since" Doc said, causing everyone's mind to go to the worst case scenario, especially when he didn't respond again. Warren and Garnett got inside as fast as they could, and Warren sped back in the direction of Camp Blue Sky.

"Hold on little lady, it's going to get bumpy" she called out, as she accelerated the truck.

…

"Faster Warren" Violet mumbled under her breath as she held onto the edge of the truck while keeping an eye out for survivors and zombies. As she stared at the scenery, she caught sight of three familiar figures running through the woods. Knocking on the partition in the back windshield, which Hammond opened. "There in the woods, just ahead."

"I see 'em" Warren called as Murphy shut the partition, and the truck ran over four zombies standing in the middle of the road before coming to an abrupt halt.

"Get in!"

Doc climbed inside with Murphy and Hammond, while Addy and Mack got into the back with Violet. Once the red head was safely inside the truck bed, and the vehicle was on the move, she reached over and wrapped her arms around Addy in a tight hug. While they weren't the closest of friends, Addy had been friendly and supportive to her while she was in Camp Blue Sky.

"You're okay aren't you?" Violet asked when she pulled away slightly to check on her friend for any visible injuries.

"We're okay, just shaken up" Addy weakly smiled, as the realisation of what they had just survived started to sink in, needing a distraction she asked "What happened on your road trip?"

"Hammond's a jerk and Murphy holds the only known vaccine for the zombie virus in his blood"

…..

Given the bombshell that was dropped on them by the young brunette, it was expected that they would keep that conversation going, but with what happened at Camp Blue Sky and the gravity of what a vaccine could mean for the future, the conversation fell through and the rest of the ride progressed in silence. As they got closer to their destination

Sleepy Hollow, New York

"I don't like them" Violet mumbled as she watched Hammond jump out of the truck and go ahead to check on the team they were supposed to meet.

"That's not surprising" Mack said, earning a sharp look from Addy "What? Little Lady here flips when someone gets too close and all Hammond's done is yell orders near her. He's freaked her out. Murphy's just a strange man she doesn't know. It makes sense she doesn't like them."

"When did you get a psychology degree?" Addy teased, as she wrapped a comforting arm around the young brunette, while her boyfriend shrugged. "This is a mess though"

"You doing alright their Little Lady?" Doc asked as he got out the truck and stood near the three 'youngsters' of the group.

"She's still warm Doc"

"I'm fine" Violet told them, "I'm just warm because I've been outside all day. Honestly I feel just fine."

Before either of them could continue to question her, Hammond came back to the truck and started to take control of the group, having confirmed the people he was meeting were now dead and most likely zombies.

"Hey, where did all the Z's go?" Addy asked, as she looked around seeing that there was none in sight.

"Movin' on, like locusts" Doc answered her

"Yeah but they'll be back. Garnett and Warren, you clear that building. You four check the vehicles." Hammond commanded, expecting everyone to follow his orders. When they saw Warren and Garnett follow the instructions given to them, the four got off the truck

"I still don't like him" Violet mumbled as climbed on top of a car to get a better vantage point of her surroundings.

"Trust us, we all feel that way" Mack responded, as he watched the youngest member of the group pike a zombie that had been near her new vantage point. "Let's just keep moving for now though."

….

As they searched the area, Doc and Mack would constantly have to remind Violet to get off the top of the cars, Addy just watched in amusement at two grown men trying to explain to a teenager why she wasn't allowed on top of abandoned cars.

Z's swarming cage

"Heads up" Mack warned them, as they came to a group of z's swarming around a cage in the middle of an alley.

"What are they after?" Addy asked as the four got closer to the cage, though Violet had slowed her pace when she saw what they were heading too.

"Only one thing." Sneaking up behind the zombies the group piked them, allowing them to see into the cage where a girl was crouched down in a ball. Going around the side, banging on the bars as he did and prying open the lock on the cage, Mack opened the door and knelt down in front of her "Come on. Hey, you alright?"

"Careful. She might be dead" Doc warned, while Mack moved to touch the still unresponsive girl in the cage. When he physically touched her skin, she lurched forward and pressed him against the bars of the cage with a knife at Mack's throat.

"Hey!"

"Well she ain't dead." Doc chuckled,

"Not the time Doc" Violet chided the man, but a faint hint of laughter in voice as she did so.

"Hey, hey. It's okay. We're good people. We just saved you, ok? Don't hurt him" Addy tried too sooth the girl, only for

"Sorry. I didn't know where I was. I must have fallen asleep." The girl apologised,

"Asleep? Well, how long you been in this cage for?"

"Two days."

"Let's get you out of there then. You got a name?"

"Cassandra"

….

"We need to talk about your need to climb on top of things little lady" Doc sighed, watching as she just piked three zombies from on top of an upturned SUV.

"Gives me a better vantage point" Violet explained as she jumped down, "are you going to check in with Hammond soon?"

"That's what we're going to do now, why?"

"I'm going to look for some more supplies. I, I can't, too much arguing."

"We can't let you go off on your own"

"I'll be fine; I'll stick close to the centre Doc."

"Be careful then. You need anything just scream and we'll hear it"

"That won't attract Z's at all."

"You want to come with us to see Hammond?"

"Scream. Got it" Violet smiled, as she headed off on her own.

"Are you sure letting her go alone is the best idea?" Cassandra asked,

"This is normal for her, if she didn't ask to wander off soon then we'd be worried" Addy explained, this had become a normal occurrence since she appeared in Camp Blue Sky, at least five times a week she would freak someone out by disappearing for a few hours only to return later unharmed.

"If she isn't scaring one of us too death, then we start to worry" Doc sighed

…

Riffling through the cars, though most had been scavenged already, there were a few things that could be found. At the moment Violet had gathered a cigarette lighter, a gun, a joint, a Swiss army knife, some water, aspirin and a couple of packets of Twinkies.

"People who scavenged here did a crap job" she muttered under her breath as she shut the door to her current car. Once it was shut, her hand rested on the window as she rubbed her eyes as her vision began to blur. "Shit. Not now. Not now."

With her vision blurring, she turned around so that her back was leaning against the outside of the car and closed her eyes. Hearing the growing growling sound coming closer, her eyes forced themselves open to see a zombie coming closer to her, before she had a

"Little Lady" she heard Doc call out as her body fell onto the ground and her consciousness faded.

…

"Is she dead?" Cassandra asked as she watched as Doc and Addy knelt down next to the unconscious girl.

"Just unconscious" Doc answered, as he placed his hand on her forehead and sighed. "Her fever's gotten worse. It's spiked"

"We need to get her back to the truck."

"You think the sniper that saved Doc was the one who saved Little Lady?" Mack asked, his focus on the corpse of the zombie that nearly turned their youngest member.

"Probably, but we shouldn't wait much longer too find out. We need to head back to the truck. Guess one of us will need to carry her"

"Carry her then Doc" Addy smirked, as she tried to bite back a laugh seeing the panicked look on his face. "She'll understand. She understood what happened with Garnett."

"One of you better take her weapon then, because I am not getting whacked with it." Placing an arm around her shoulders and under her knees, the older male picked up the teenager and headed back towards the truck. "You got to pull through this little lady"

….


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three: Fracking Zombies ( _gas, zombies and explosions)_

… _.._

Doc, Addy, Mack and Cassandra's solution to dealing with the unconscious teenager had been to place her in the back of the truck in her 'nest'. The drive had been hard knowing that her fever had returned and she was in the back of the truck sleeping it off, and that their newest addition, the sniper who saved Doc, was near her.

The constant jostling of the trucks over the bridge, caused the brunette to wake up. When she realised that she was not alone in the back of the truck, her fingers curled around her poker – which Addy had kindly placed near her – and rolled over so she could see the person with her, a young man barely older than she was. Waiting until the truck pulled over to the side of the road, she used her weapon to hit him in the back of the knees and pushed him back onto the back of the truck. A move that ended up with her straddling his waist, her left forearm pressed against his throat and holding her poker close to his jugular with her right hand.

"Who are you? Why are you here?" she hissed, watching his face morph from shock to confusion at what had just happened to him.

"Little Lady get off the kid" Doc said, as he came around to get the tire iron from the back. "Come on, off him"

"Heads up. We got company" Mack warned the group, as Violet climbed off the guy and Addy helped her onto the ground. As the two kept an eye on the two motorcycles that drove past them, Addy noticed that Violet's hold on her weapon was so tight that her knuckles were white and her body was shaking.

"That's right. Keep rolling and we all live to see another day" Warren calmly spoke as she watched the bikers speed off down the abandoned road, once they were out of sight she turned their focus back to the issue with the tire on the truck. "All right. Let's do this quick. Doesn't look flat, but it won't turn"

"We ran over some fun stuff" Doc commented

"Was Warren playing Z-Bowling again?" Violet asked Addy, who nodded in agreement to her statement.

"Okay. Well help me get it off and let's see what's going on" Warren told Doc, before the two took off the wheel, a snarling zombie was revealed to be caught inside.

"Holy shit"

"Language Little Lady" Mack playfully scolded the teenager his girlfriend had a hold on.

"It's the apocalypse, what are you going to do? Ground me?"

"Well that explains the pull to the left" Doc laughed, as Murphy started to freak out at what he saw.

"What are you waiting for? Kill it! Kill it!" he panicked, trying to hide behind his jacket.

"Alright you, time to go home" Warren said as she piked the zombie.

….

Needing to find gas, Violet got inside the cab of the truck along with Mack, Cassandra, Addy and Doc, while the new guy remained in the back of the truck.

"You feeling alright?" Cassandra asked, finally getting a good look at the teenager who no longer looked like she was about to pass out at a given moment. "You gave everyone a scare"

"Guess the fever was harder to shake than I originally thought" Violet shrugged, trying to lighten the tension in the car, if only slightly. "What did I miss while I was napping?"

"You mean passed out from a fever we thought would kill you?" Doc corrected as he drove, keeping a wary eye on their fuel levels.

"Sure, why not"

"Hammond got eaten by a zombie baby – "

"Zombie baby?"

"Zombie baby, and now we are taking Murphy to California"

"And him?" Violet gestured to the back of the truck, where the man she recently attacked was.

"Picked him up. Saved my ass from being eaten. Think you can play nice?" the older man asked his patient.

"He keeps his distance and I'll play nice"

"I'd take that offer Doc, you aren't going to get anything better." Addy teased the brunette, before turning serious. "Seriously though Violet, take it easy. If you aren't up to something tell us. We can't have you passing out and getting eaten."

"I'll take it easy. No more wandering off on my own until I'm better"

"Good. Don't need you sending me too an early grave Little Lady. I'm too young to have a heart attack." Doc smiled at the youngest member of the group, who despite being freaked out by her meeting with the new kid, had calmed down slightly when it was just the six of them.

"Well, it wouldn't do me any good to get my doctor killed would it" Violet joked.

…

Pulling over to try and scrounge up some gas, the group ended up in an abandoned parking lot, with cars left to rust.

"Try and find any gas that you can" Garnett ordered the group when they got out "or we aren't going to make it anywhere. Little Lady, try and see if there's any in the stacked cars, people might have skipped those ones"

"On it" Violet agreed, as she adjusted her satchel so it wouldn't get in the way of her climbing.

"Doc, take the kid and stick close to her."

"I'll be fine on my own"

"After New York?"

"Fine. Come along Doc" Violet surrendered, as she started heading towards the cars before climbing on top of them, being sure to keep her balance as she did.

"You take the top and we'll take the bottom?" Doc asked her, watching as she was able it onto the roof of a Honda.

"Sound's good" she agreed, manoeuvring around the vehicle. "Just be sure to catch me if I fall"

….

"Head's up Doc" Violet called out as she threw her satchel at the man and climbed down "There's nothing up there"

"Except that jacket?" he asked, when he saw the new black jacket the brunette was sporting.

"Were else am I supposed to get clothes? All of mine are still covered in blood and it's not like I can run to the shops to buy one. Plus, it fits me and is cute"

"Sounds reasonable"

"Is there anything is these ones?"

"Nothing"

"Nothing up there either." The brunette sighed, before taking her satchel back and slipping it back over her body. As they continued to look around the cars for gas Violet kept a wary eye on their newest companion. Seeing how apprehensive she was, Doc tried to stir up a conversation hoping that it would do something to ease her nerves.

"So what's your name kid?" he asked as he riffled through a car.

"Ten thousand" at his response both Doc and Violet shared a look, trying to see if they both heard the same thing.

"That's not a name. That's a number"

"It's my name. Made it myself"

"It seems like a mouthful" Violet commented offhandedly, something Doc was proud of her for doing. She had actually spoken to him with something that wasn't a threat and no glaring or shaking.

"Well I supposed you'd have too. Does it mean anything?" Doc wanted to know, as he kept an eye on the two youngest members of the group.

"How many zombies I'm going to kill" Ten Thousand explained

"At least you have ambitions" the youngest member added as she tried to think of something that was less of a mouthful to call the man.

"Snark it not appreciated little lady." Doc chided the female before turning his attention to the male, "Wells that's a whole lot of zombies."

"Already at 1,055"

"Damn. So what happ ens when you get to ten thousand?"

"Change my name."

"Too what? Twenty Thousand?"

"No. Jeff." Ten thousand says as he moves on to the next car, which was next to Violet's, where he pulled out a knife from his pocket. "I like the name Jeff" before piking the snarling zombie in the vehicle "Ah shut up." After he piked the zombie, his attention turned to Violet who had just finished searching her car. "Is your name really Little Lady?"

"What?" Not even close." Violet answered, as she adjusted her satchel. "Doc didn't know my name and unconscious teenage girl covered in blood was a bit of a mouthful. Little Lady just stuck."

"What's your real name?"

"Why'd you want to know?"

"You agreed to play nice" Doc reminded her, as he finished with his current car.

"Violet. My name is Violet." She responded, before turning her attention to Doc again "Was that better?"

"Much. We're going to have to go back empty handed. Unless you have anything in that bag of yours?"

"I found a rubix cube and a pack of cards"

"So … nothing?"

"Pretty much. Unlike Sleepy Hollow, previous scavengers actually did a decent job picking through everything."

….

"Anything?" Warren asked as they re-joined the group, hoping that at least one of them had found something.

"Unless you count knick knacks and a jacket, not a thing" Doc answered gesturing to Violet who was playing with her new rubix cube next to Ten Thousand.

"She is scary good at finding things" Addy whispered to Mack, who nodded in agreement.

"Well at least she'll be entertained and won't wander off" Garnett sighed, knowing that Violet had a habit of finding things that may or may not necessarily be useful on her wanderings, these ranged from food and water to a slinky.

"Where did everybody go? I haven't seen survivor since those two bikers" Warren asked,

"Isn't that a good thing?" Violet mumbled as she continued to try and solve her new toy. "Dammit"

"Black Summer. Everyone starved to death" Garnett explained simply.

"I was in Philly for Black Summer. It was bad. I lost thirty pounds. Thought I was dead." Cassandra spoke up,

"How did you survive?" Addy piped up, looking curiously at Cassandra.

"Did what I had too"

"It's all we can do to survive" Violet commented as she returned the rubix cube to her satchel and switching it for her gun when she heard movement coming from inside one of the cars. Aiming it at the source of the noise, which turned out to be one of the bikers.

"Hold up, it's not a Z" Warren said as she moved closer to him and removed a weapon from his possession.

"Peace. No bites here. Hundred percent alive" the biker said

"What happened to your friend?" Garnett asked warily.

"Turns out he had other friends of low morals. Took my ride. Horse thieves should be shot"

"You should choose better friends" Cassandra told him, a look of false bravado in her eyes that Violet was familiar with herself.

"Good advice"

"What can we do for you? One peaceful group of humans to a lone traveller?" Warren subtlety threatened the man.

"Could use a lift. Sure don't want to spend the night here alone" as he kept talking there was something about him that unsettle Violet, it wasn't the same sense she got when around Doc, Mack, Garnett or even Ten Thousand, hell it wasn't even the unease she got around Murphy, it was the same sense she got the first time she met Otis.

"Sorry. We ain't running a taxi service" Murphy threw in his own two cents.

"Which way are you headed?" Garnett asked,

"Any direction but back. Word is there's a horde on the move south on the New York side. I see you're scrounging for gas. You know like we used to say, ass, gas or grass. Nobody rides for free. I know where you could fill up." Travis said

"Now would be the time to share that information"

"Place called Jersey Devil Refinery, maybe five miles off. Just off the turnpike."

"How do you know there's gas there?" Warren sceptically asked

"Got overrun day number one. All the tanks are full, just rusting away."

"All right, take us too this refinery. And if there's gas there like you say, you can ride with us to the next outpost"

"You won't be sorry."

"You got that right"

"This is a bad idea" Violet mumbled under her breath, not aware that Ten Thousand had heard her, and was giving her a sceptical look.

"Let's get out of here" Garnett went back into leader mode, and went to rally the group "New guy's gonna ride with me and Warren. Everybody else load up in the truck"

"Was that even loaded?" Addy asked Violet as the headed to the truck, the red head never having seen the younger girl own one before.

"Nope, but it's more threatening than my poker"

"Point taken. You sitting inside?"

"With Murphy? I'll risk it in the back with Ten Thousand"

"You aren't going to stab him are you?""

"Not if he keeps his distance" Violet said as she climbed in the back.

"After last time I definitely think he will." Addy teased "Hard to believe a little cutie like you is so dangerous"

"And don't forget it"

…..

As she got in the back of the truck, sitting as far away from Ten Thousand as physically possible, Violet curled her knees up to her chest before resting her forehead on her knees. Seeing her position, Ten Thousand made sure to keep as much distance between them as physically possible, not wanting a repeat of what happened last time. As they drove, both teenagers stayed in a sense of silence that they couldn't tell if it was comfortable or nor. When the truck pulled into the refinery, Violet was the first to break the silence saying "Holy Shit"

"Fracking Zombies" Ten Thousand said as well when he saw what she did, dozens of z's.

"There's so many" once the truck came to a stop the brunette jumped out and headed towards one of the buildings

"Where are you going?" the male asked as he followed after her

"There might be supplies nearby, if this place still has gas lying around it might have other things as well."

"Don't shoot them" Ten Thousand warned her, earning a look from the girl "Shooting a gun could start a fire."

"Good thing my gun doesn't have any bullets in it then" as she got inside one of the buildings and climbed the stairs, she noticed that the male hadn't left her alone and was following her. "Go follow someone else"

"You said you weren't going off on your own anymore"

"Make sure that you stay where I can see you" Violet gave in, realising that he wasn't going to give up and they didn't have the time to continue arguing. As they kept manoeuvring through the building the area was mostly free from zombies, as they had moved towards the noise made by the pump. The two made their way in an amicable silence, neither saying anything to the other

"Don't touch me" Violet snarled as she ripped her arm from his grip and kept taking steps backward, before Ten Thousand walked around her and stabbed the zombie that he had yanked her out of the way off. "Next time say there's a zombie. Don't touch me, if the option is being eaten by a Z and being touched by you, I will choose to be eaten."

"Sorry. Come on" he said before falling into silence, as he could see the fear in her eyes as clear as day and it made her previous actions clearer. Her response to meeting him was to attack before he turned into a threat, withdrawing from people or being sarcastic to them, her want to go off alone, she was afraid and trying to protect herself from being hurt again. This time as they kept moving, Ten Thousand was in front with Violet following behind him, keeping a wary gaze on the male. As they climbed through the building, the noise coming from where the rest of the group were caught their attention.

"That doesn't sound good" Violet said, after the clanking noise stopped, then started before stopping again rang throughout the refinery, before a tinkling music sounded as well as a car horn. "Come on, scavenging's going to have to wait. We need to regroup."

As they moved through the building they came to an opening in the structure, allowing them to see Doc trying to mercy some zombies near the truck, which was starting to get swamped. "DOC! 10K can you shoot some from here?"

Pulling out a slingshot and some gears, the male shot down the Z trying to bite Doc though the head. "1058. 1059." 10K counted,

"1060! Nice shot, kid!" Doc cheered, as he looked up at two teenagers before Murphy drove off in the truck. The two kids shared a look before running to find the exit of the building, trying to regroup with the rest of the team. "10K?"

"I told you ten thousand was a mouthful. If you don't like it I'll think of something else" Violet explained her new nickname for the teenager.

"No I like it."

"Good. Now hurry up and if you see anything useful point it out"

…

"Wait! Here comes the kid and Little Lady" Doc called a little while later as they started to get back into the truck, looking over where the two teenagers were running towards them, each carrying two containers.  
"Found these" 10K said

"You too are gods" Doc cheered

"That we are" Violet smirked as she and her companion climbed into the back of the truck, as Warren started to drive off.

As she leant against Cassandra's shoulder, Violet could feel how tense the older woman was and tried to soothe her, if only slightly, "We all do what we need to do too survive Cassandra. It's all we can, we don't choose who we survive with or how it happens, all we can do is look to the future."

"How'd you survive?" Cassandra asked her.

"I can be pretty stubborn, and there are people who don't get the satisfaction of seeing me die anytime soon."


End file.
